On the day the twin towers fell, Stan Silverman, then CEO of PQ Corp., was attending a board meeting of the American Chemistry Council at Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

His first thought was for the safety of his employees, many of whom are traveling on any given day, Silverman writes at bizjournals.com.

“I wanted to return to corporate headquarters as soon as possible,” he recalls. “Since all flights were grounded, my wife and I drove our rental car seven hours to Valley Forge. We stopped twice – once for gas and once to get something to eat.

“The genuine concern and connection offered by the people who reached out to us at both stops was nothing like we have ever experienced … I thought of this as a small slice of America at its best – strangers helping others.”